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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
Original magic system, bada$$ main characters, and lots of moonshine. If any of those appeal to you read this book the plot had me hooked from the start and you get a good cast of characters that make you want to learn more about each one. Also LOVE that the villain is just pure evil and we can hate without it being a redemption thing. One of the best books of the year (so far)
DNF at 186 pages. I really really tried to like this book but the writing was throwing me off so bad I couldn’t do it. A bunch of words were used incorrectly (for example, garish) and apparently that’s a dealbreaker for me. It was like it was almost written well, but never quite made it. Like you would have a beautiful, eloquent sentence and then the literal next sentence would be a random thought that didn’t make sense in context and it left me really annoyed. The characters were dry as hell and I couldn’t bring myself to care about what was going on because I had no emotional connection to any of them. Gray was annoying and would stare a problem in the face and explain it away like oh that’s just me overreacting or being paranoid. The MMC would blurt out random lines that didn’t make sense at all and were incredibly cringe. All in all, not my cup of tea but I get why a lot of people like this book. The magic system is actually really cool, it was just a little bit too convoluted for me. I couldn’t keep up with who everyone was and what their abilities were supposed to be. Good plot, bad execution.
EDITING MY EDIT ABOUT THE USE OF AI:
I have not seen proof with my own eyeballs that AI was used to write this book. If anyone has any, feel free to comment on this review. It is a strong rumor online and there have been multiple comments made about it, but I would NEVER want to condemn someone's career over a rumor. The legend states that this information came from the author's own mouth, but I cannot confirm or deny that as I have not seen it. I could be 100% incorrect and the author could have come up with this *ahem* very interesting story all on her own... But hey. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum, but I really didn't like this book. With it's continues success, maybe the author can make some improvements and I might pick up another book of hers in the future. I have no ill will towards the author, and will always support anyone who can create "art" even if the book isn't my cup of tea. ***I repeat, I HAVE NOT SEEN PROOF OF THE AUTHORS USE OF AI, and it's irresponsible to condemn and author on a rumor, but there are whispers so do with that info what you would like.***
EDIT:
It has come to my attention that this book was written with AI. Not sure to what extent, but AI was involved. So, I am changing my 2 star review to 1 star. I wish I could give it 0 stars. The longer I have had to sit on this book, the more I dislike it. And that was before I found out about the AI. It wasn't great. See below for the details.
_____
Well that was… a ride..
At the time of writing this review, there is still a near perfect score of 4.75 with 150 reviews. Only three 3 stars, one 2 star, and zero 1 stars.
I HAD to see what the fuss was about. Annnnnd I am disappointed. The ARC team seems to have done a good job with the reviews, but I don’t understand it.
This book was soooo slow. The book could have really benefitted from cutting out about 30%. The plot in the middle basically fell apart and it draggggged. I started skimming at about 40% until the plot picked up again around 85% through. Tons of info dumping and endless internal monologues just had me tuned out.
-The power system is WILDLY confusing. There’s a glossary at the front but unless you have it printed out for easy reference, it makes no sense. I gave up trying to understand.
-The “name your kid after their hair color” trend was weird and very elementary to me. And *possible spoiler* the FMC coming into her power and having RAINBOW eyes? Cringe.
-At one point, MCs take a break from shooting heated glances at each other to play a riveting game of hide and seek. Lol. It felt like this book was written for a younger audience, and not for a spicy dark romance. It was odd.
-Also, the slow burn was highly irritating to me. Just when you think they’re going to “seal the deal”, someone knocks on the door or there’s some sort of emergency or the FMC sporadically bursts into tears again. No joke, this happened at least 3 chapters in a row. I was uninterested in the romance after the fourth time.
-There are a couple of flashbacks where they go back to when the MCs were 8 years old, and they speak to each other like they’re philosophers and it was very odd to me. It took me out of the story to see children talking like they had mortgages to worry about or something.
-There were some pretty glaring plot wholes as well, *possible spoiler* like why did it take a LITERAL millennia for an elemental and a kinetic to reproduce and create a hybrid with godlike abilities? In a millennia, no one reproduced with the other magical race? The whole history and backstory is completely glossed over. I don’t think we ever know why the races hate each other? There isn’t a real clear motive for this whole war.
-And of all the things that irked me about this book, WHY is the entire book, all of these wars, battles, conflicts only within the state of Georgia? The ENTIRE story line between these powerful, warring beings and the humans that are suffering under their rule… happens between Atlanta and Macon? It made no sense and I think it was a real missed opportunity for the author to develop the characters and shed some light on the overall conflict. Because the way it reads now, the state of Georgia is full of magical beings warring for territory in the burbs around Atlanta.
Was it a bad overall story idea? Absolutely not. This is debut novel with SO much potential! I just think the execution was... very poor. The twist at the end had me intrigued for sure. It was an excellent set up for some delicious angst in book 2! But this book just wasn’t for me. *Won't be continuing, see my edits above*
I have not seen proof with my own eyeballs that AI was used to write this book. If anyone has any, feel free to comment on this review. It is a strong rumor online and there have been multiple comments made about it, but I would NEVER want to condemn someone's career over a rumor. The legend states that this information came from the author's own mouth, but I cannot confirm or deny that as I have not seen it. I could be 100% incorrect and the author could have come up with this *ahem* very interesting story all on her own... But hey. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum, but I really didn't like this book. With it's continues success, maybe the author can make some improvements and I might pick up another book of hers in the future. I have no ill will towards the author, and will always support anyone who can create "art" even if the book isn't my cup of tea. ***I repeat, I HAVE NOT SEEN PROOF OF THE AUTHORS USE OF AI, and it's irresponsible to condemn and author on a rumor, but there are whispers so do with that info what you would like.***
EDIT:
It has come to my attention that this book was written with AI. Not sure to what extent, but AI was involved. So, I am changing my 2 star review to 1 star. I wish I could give it 0 stars. The longer I have had to sit on this book, the more I dislike it. And that was before I found out about the AI. It wasn't great. See below for the details.
_____
Well that was… a ride..
At the time of writing this review, there is still a near perfect score of 4.75 with 150 reviews. Only three 3 stars, one 2 star, and zero 1 stars.
I HAD to see what the fuss was about. Annnnnd I am disappointed. The ARC team seems to have done a good job with the reviews, but I don’t understand it.
This book was soooo slow. The book could have really benefitted from cutting out about 30%. The plot in the middle basically fell apart and it draggggged. I started skimming at about 40% until the plot picked up again around 85% through. Tons of info dumping and endless internal monologues just had me tuned out.
-The power system is WILDLY confusing. There’s a glossary at the front but unless you have it printed out for easy reference, it makes no sense. I gave up trying to understand.
-The “name your kid after their hair color” trend was weird and very elementary to me. And *possible spoiler* the FMC coming into her power and having RAINBOW eyes? Cringe.
-At one point, MCs take a break from shooting heated glances at each other to play a riveting game of hide and seek. Lol. It felt like this book was written for a younger audience, and not for a spicy dark romance. It was odd.
-Also, the slow burn was highly irritating to me. Just when you think they’re going to “seal the deal”, someone knocks on the door or there’s some sort of emergency or the FMC sporadically bursts into tears again. No joke, this happened at least 3 chapters in a row. I was uninterested in the romance after the fourth time.
-There are a couple of flashbacks where they go back to when the MCs were 8 years old, and they speak to each other like they’re philosophers and it was very odd to me. It took me out of the story to see children talking like they had mortgages to worry about or something.
-There were some pretty glaring plot wholes as well, *possible spoiler* like why did it take a LITERAL millennia for an elemental and a kinetic to reproduce and create a hybrid with godlike abilities? In a millennia, no one reproduced with the other magical race? The whole history and backstory is completely glossed over. I don’t think we ever know why the races hate each other? There isn’t a real clear motive for this whole war.
-And of all the things that irked me about this book, WHY is the entire book, all of these wars, battles, conflicts only within the state of Georgia? The ENTIRE story line between these powerful, warring beings and the humans that are suffering under their rule… happens between Atlanta and Macon? It made no sense and I think it was a real missed opportunity for the author to develop the characters and shed some light on the overall conflict. Because the way it reads now, the state of Georgia is full of magical beings warring for territory in the burbs around Atlanta.
Was it a bad overall story idea? Absolutely not. This is debut novel with SO much potential! I just think the execution was... very poor. The twist at the end had me intrigued for sure. It was an excellent set up for some delicious angst in book 2! But this book just wasn’t for me. *Won't be continuing, see my edits above*
adventurous
slow-paced
Wow! This book is 6⭐️!!!! It’s so good! And that ending
I love the idea of this plot & the potential it holds. However, there was just SO much filler, I get it was to set the scene and off load a lot of world building etc but then it just made the last 20% chaos. It wasn’t through the writing that it was intense just the pure rush of it.
I’m also unsure how I feel about the romance element of the FMC & MMC. I felt it went from ‘unsure’ to ‘totally in love’ so fast, and felt rather baseless.
I’m really interested to see where this series goes, and hopefully a lot of the information dump is done!
I’m also unsure how I feel about the romance element of the FMC & MMC. I felt it went from ‘unsure’ to ‘totally in love’ so fast, and felt rather baseless.
I’m really interested to see where this series goes, and hopefully a lot of the information dump is done!
Yeah, just couldn't get into the storyline or characters.
Jumped around too much and dialogue seemed a bit off at times. Could just be me.
Seemed to take way too much time and run around to get into the storyline.
Jumped around too much and dialogue seemed a bit off at times. Could just be me.
Seemed to take way too much time and run around to get into the storyline.
where to fucking start…. This definitely wasn’t a five star read for me seeing as his nicknames for her were “rainbow” and “little savage”. Like… please excuse me while I go impale myself on a kitchen knife. That was disgusting. BUT very interesting magic system that wasn’t too hard to understand once you were a little bit into the book. This was going to be a three star but the ending turned out to be a lot more interesting than just thought it was going to be and I think the second book will be wayyyy better IMO
